A technique for managing computer system resources such as bandwidth by specifying user visible parameters such as message delivery time.

Policy rules are used to describe the operation of network elements to make QoS guarantees. Relevant standards for QoS in the IETF are the RSVP (Resource Reservation Protocol) and COPS (Common Open Policy Service) protocols. RSVP allows for the reservation of bandwidth in advance, while COPS allows routers and switches to obtain policy rules from a server.

An application or device state in which (a.) the application or device is able to operate, (b.) all of its data is consistent and stored on non-volatile storage, and (c.) processing has been suspended and there are no tasks in progress; i.e., all tasks have either been completed or not started.